


The Dance

by joufancyhuh



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Experimental writing, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 23:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13891806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joufancyhuh/pseuds/joufancyhuh
Summary: Reyes danced his whole life. Around feelings, around attachment, around secrets. But with Bain Massani, those steps begin to falter.





	The Dance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BlueTeaParty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueTeaParty/gifts).



> I felt like anyone who requested my OTP, Bain & Reyes, needed to get a fic, so here I am, coming out of my shadows to throw some love on them. 
> 
> I asked GuileandGall for a prompt and she gave me, "Around the Fire". Which I immediately twisted.

Reyes mastered the dance at a young age.

With the divorce between his parents imminent, he learned the dance, always quick to please both of his parents without incurring the wrath of the other. His mother’s new boyfriend, _what boyfriend_ , he fed the excuses to his father the way his mother passed them off to him. His father’s new bank account he opened without his mother? Reyes tucked away that envelope and hand delivered it to his father himself.

The dance followed Reyes throughout his life, and the man knew the steps by heart. His lovers complained about the masks he wore, _whose underwear is this under your bed_ , that he never showed any true emotion. The younger ones, they always tried to fix him, worm their way into his guarded heart, _I know the real Reyes is in there somewhere_ , and he would smile and pretend their magic touch illuminated the shadowed parts of his heart, convincing them for a time until they had enough and left.

And this was how Reyes danced, his twisted tango of words and motions to please his partners, but never himself.

But Andromeda, that was for him, a selfish move to break away from the monotony of the dance. He promised to turn over a new leaf, leave his baggage and subtle manipulations behind him.

But Andromeda, it wasn’t as advertised, and Reyes quickly fell back into old routines.

He watched from his shadows as spirits broke over their crumbling new home, his own barely held together without taking comfort in the arms of others.

And maybe that was why, when one of his dance partners showed up to his apartment in the middle of the night, nursing a bad, oozing wound on his arm, Reyes faltered.

Bain’s large frame filled the slim entryway into Reyes’ makeshift studio apartment, cradling his bloody arm with his noninjured one, dark green eyes trying to ask for help without the verbal communication. “I ran out of medigel on the field,” the tall man said as Reyes froze, attention fixated the deep gash.

He stepped aside, the other man taking the hint and shoving his way inside. Bain pulled out a chair from the small table in the kitchen and sat, uncovering his hand to assess the damage. Reyes shook off his initial shock and darted to the bathroom, grabbing some of his large medigel supply from under the sink. It never hurt to be prepared, and Reyes stocked with the machinations of an impending war.

Yanking down one of the rags he passed off for a washcloth, he ran it under some of the purified water in the sink, though it stunk of rotten eggs, and brought it and the ‘gel out to the olive-skinned man. Bain’s eyes blazed with self-inflicted anger, an emotion Reyes knew well enough to recognize, as he took the ‘gel offered to him.

“What happened?” Reyes lifted Bain’s arm and wiped away some of the blood, gentle but quick motions to allow for the medigel to halt the bleeding. “It’s not like you to get hurt.”

“Ambush,” was all Bain replied, gaze veiled from any further inklings of feelings while he watched Reyes. He found that he missed the heat Bain’s green eyes usually offered, the biting remarks the man made when the two fooled around with one another. The clipped sentences tugged at Reyes’ heart, an unfamiliar sentiment welling in his chest.

Reyes set the bloody rag on the table and slipped the tube of medigel from Bain’s warm fingers, letting his own fingers linger over the other man’s. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. It happens to the best of us.” He unscrewed the cap, and with careful precision, applied a generous amount over the gash. The concern over the kett hunter’s wellbeing didn’t come as a surprise, Reyes wasn’t without a heart, and he did care about people, just in his own way. But missing the flames Reyes danced around when it came to the man, that was a new sensation.

The dance he knew so well, the steps alluded him as Reyes bent down and kissed Bain’s forehead when he finished, a move which surprised them both. “Stay here tonight.”

With slight hesitation, Bain nodded, rising up to tower above Reyes.

Maybe Andromeda did hold a semblance of hope after all.


End file.
